The Design Entrepreneur

Designers are used to working for clients, but there is nothing better than when the client is oneself. Graphic and product designers, who are skilled with the tools and masters aesthetics, are now in the forefront of this growing entrepreneur movement.

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Whether personal or collective, drive is the common denominator of all entrepreneurial pursuit; of course, then comes the brilliant idea; and finally the fervent wherewithal to make and market the result. The Design Entrepreneur is the first book to survey this new field and showcase the innovators who are creating everything from books to furniture, clothes to magazines, plates to surfboards, and more.

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Through case studies with designers like Dave Eggers, Maira Kalman, Charles Spencer Anderson, Seymour Chwast, Jet Mous, Nicholas Callaway, Jordi Duro, and over thirty more from the United States and Europe, this book explores the whys, hows, and wherefores of the conception and production processes. The design entrepreneur must take the leap away from the safety of the traditional designer role into the precarious territory where the public decides what works and what doesn’t. This is the book that shows how that is accomplished.

Steven Heller and Lita Talarico are co-chairs of the MFA Design program of the School of Visual Arts where students are encouraged to become design entrepreneurs. Heller is the author and co-author of over 100 books on design and popular culture. He is the editor of AIGA VOICE the online design journal and a contributing editor to Print, ID, EYE, and Baseline magazines. For thirty-three years he was an art director of the New York Times and now writes a column for the New York Times Book Review. He is the recipient of the AIGA Medal for Lifetime Achievement.